Daiya vs Follow Your Heart vegan cheese

by Diane
(Roseville Ca)

Hi Sassy, I see that your recipes indicate that you use Follow Your Heart Cheese like in your Layered Tortilla Pie. Have you tried using Daiya Mozzarella or Cheddar? Whole Foods carries it and it is really, really good. I like it so much better than any of the soy cheeses I have tried. What is your opinion on it? Diane

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Sassy Sez: Hi Diane! You are correct, some of the vegan cheeses on the market are yucky. Most of my site was built before Daiya made their cheese available to the retail customer. So I have always used Follow Your Heart and learned how to work with it.

In my opinion, there are pros and cons to using each of these cheeses:

Daiya is the most like dairy cheese as far as how it melts, stretches, and tastes. Cons are that is it quite expensive, and as someone once said (perhaps Vegan Dad?) that he found it to be "goopy" once melted. I couldn't agree more.

Follow Your Heart has a flavor that tends to be on the light side. It DOES melt, but I have found (at least at this point in time) that in order for it to melt it must not be directly exposed to the heat of the oven. In other words, if you have it under another layer, it will melt very nicely. It is a little spendy as well, as most mock animal products are, but not as expensive as Daiya.

So what do I recommend? It's really hard to say. It depends on the mood I'm in and the dish I'm making, the flavor and textures I am going for.

I actually learned to make my own cheese years ago thanks to Joanne Stepaniak and her wonderful Uncheese Cookbook. They are so easy, very healthy, and inexpensive to make. It's what I opt for when I have the time. ;O)

Follow the link for an example of a recipe from one of Joanne's cookbooks. This is a favorite "cheese sauce" that I use often in my lasagna recipes. OMG! Heaven on earth.

Hope this helps. :O) xo